A US judge declared the death penalty unconstitutional yesterday, saying it "creates an undue risk of executing innocent people". Duncan Campbell reports from in Los Angeles
The decision, which is certain to be subject to an appeal, is the first such ruling by a federal judge and will add further fuel to the debate on the death penalty.
If upheld by appeal court judges, it will halt federal executions within the judge's circuit - New York, Connecticut and Vermont - but will not affect cases in the 38 states that have capital punishment.
US District Judge Jed Rakoff, who sits in the Manhattan federal court, said the current death penalty law "deprives innocent people of a significant opportunity to prove their innocence", thus violating the requirements for the due process of the law to be followed.
The controversial ruling came as it emerged that the Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, has been aggressively overriding his prosecutors to impose the death penalty in cases where life imprisonment had been recommended.
Since taking up his post last year, Mr Ashcroft has reversed the recommendations of federal prosecutors 12 times, ordering them to seek the death penalty in cases where they had advised against doing so, according to federal statistics published by the Washington Post yesterday.
Meanwhile, disquiet over a growing number of miscarriages of justice has led to moratoriums on executions in Maryland and Illinois. - (Guardian Service)